Take Me As I Am (20 page)

He knew he already did.

†

Thea paced the hotel lobby, a small travel bag ready at her feet. “Hi, Thea.”

“Calum, hi. Where’s Alice?”

“She’s running late. I hoped I could talk you into having a drink with me before you leave and Alice catches up with us.” He showed her his boyish smile and took her arm, leading her to the small hotel bar.

“I’ll have a beer and a soda with lime for the lady,” Calum told the bartender.

“You remembered?”

Calum blinked with a steady smile on his face. “Of course I did, Thea. I’ll never forget anything about you.”

A faint tinge of red streaked her cheeks at his genuine comment. “I was going to say how pleased I am that you and Alice are a couple. She’s a really nice person.”

“Yes, she is and a handful too. She has a lively intelligence that leaves me behind at times. Guess I’m going to be a lawyer’s husband one day.”

“Thanks for the drink.” Thea grinned warmly at him. “What about your plans for a career? What are you doing now?”

“I decided that my dad needed a hand. He had a mild heart attack a couple of months back and I decided to give it a chance.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, and…?”

“I love it. I think I’ll be staying and anyway Alice will need to go to college full time if she wants to be a high flying lawyer.”

“What do your parents think of Alice?” How could his parents not like the woman? She had a wonderful personality and worked hard to achieve what she wanted. It was good to hear the young man thinking in terms of Alice being in his life permanently. How love could change all preconceived ideas about what you want in life.

“They think she’s marvelous. My mother is already planning the wedding. I haven’t told Alice that yet, but I will.”

“You love her very much, don’t you, Calum?”

“Yes, I do. I confess I was falling for you, Thea, and thought Alice might be my rebound affair. However, the more we went out, the more I didn’t want to let her leave. In the end, I realized that she’s the woman for me and I’m glad she agrees.”

Thea listened to the way he spoke. It was like listening to a poet narrating a love poem.

“What about yourself? Are you dating anyone?” he asked.

“No, too busy here at the hotel and somehow I’m just not interested.” Thea glanced down at her drink before quickly placing it to her lips and taking a sip.

A silence stretched between them for a couple of minutes.

“Is it because of Jo?” Calum asked.

Green eyes full of sadness met his compassionate ones. Should she answer truthfully? He was her friend and now it was becoming harder and harder to disguise her feelings for Joanna. “Yes.”

“We thought so.”

“We?”

“Don’t look so surprised, Thea. I think Alice has always known and she hasn’t broken any confidences. Your mother and I speculated.”

Thea didn’t know if she should be mad, upset, or relieved. A fraction of all surged through her body. “You speculated?”

Calum held up a hand. “I’m not trying to upset you, Thea. We all care about you. Your mother started it and we just discussed—”

“My mother!” Now, Thea was mad. This was her personal business, not something for them to discuss behind her back.

“Well, yeah but it wasn’t for long, we just—”

Thea got off her bar stool and stalked off toward the office.

Chapter Twenty-two

“Alex, look at our baby,” Stella whispered, her throat thick as the tears trailed down her cheeks.

“They are looking after her, darling. She will come back to us. I know she will.” The tall man’s eyes were brimming with unshed tears.

A nurse busied herself with various tubes, leads, and oxygen.

“Will she?” Stella beseeched the nurse.

“I will have the doctor come in to answer your questions.”

Stella closed her eyes as the tears flooded out. She didn’t want to break down knowing Joanna would not approve. Her stoic child would frown and shake her head at the show of public emotion. This wasn’t public. It was a hospital room where her child lay fighting for her life.

†

Alex stood behind his wife, who was sitting in the armchair clutching their daughter’s hand hoping it would bring her back to them. How did she let herself become so ill? Surely others would have seen her condition and not allowed this to happen.

“Mr. and Mrs. Xianthos, I am Charles Dumont, your daughter’s physician.”

“What can you tell us about her, Doctor?” Alex asked while clutching Stella’s hand.

“She isn’t responding as well as I’d hoped. The added complication of a virus hasn’t helped. We have identified the virus and we can now give her medication to help her body fight it. The next twenty-four hours are crucial. If she doesn’t have the strength to fight, her body will soon find it difficult to pull back from the brink.”

“She’s always been a fighter, Doctor,” Alex remarked absently. This wasn’t like his Joanna.

“I’m afraid that at the moment, your daughter appears to have given up on the will to live. Now that you are here, I’m hoping that will change. Perhaps if you talked to her, it might help.”

“Yes, yes, we will.” Alex couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

“I’ll check back later.” The doctor gave them a smile before leaving the ICU room.

“I know that Jo, for all her faults, has always been your favorite, darling.” Stella sobbed. “We just found her again. We can’t lose her.” Stella hugged him close.

After sitting back down in the armchair, Stella took a breath and spoke. “Jo, do you remember when your dad fell into the pond trying to find your favorite fish? What were you, six at the time? My, it was funny wasn’t it? I think you.…”

†

Grayson watched the flight take off as he turned to make his way home. Two hours before, both the women in his household had been crying. That wasn’t a good sign. Thea’s two friends had given him a general overview of what the situation was. Thea was accusing her mother of prying into her private life. A bewildered Karen was upset at the turn of events.

Once both Thea and Karen stopped crying, he managed to get them to talk. After calling an old friend at the airport, he was able to obtain a seat for Karen on the flight Thea was taking to Brussels. A man named Jack Wicklow would meet them at the airport and escort them to the hospital.

What a day. He looked to the sky for the plane and smiled ruefully. Who would have known that Thea was such a dark horse? Or that the world was such a small place? The parents of Thea’s friend were his and Karen’s friends. Who would have given him odds on that one?

†

Alex watched Stella sleeping awkwardly beside their daughter. She had spent the past seven hours retelling every childhood story she could remember. Jo hadn’t responded in any way. He had a great faith in lots of things and the fates were one of them. They surely haven’t decided that the child he loved, lying like a pale shadow of her former self in a hospital bed, was now going to leave the earth for good
.
He couldn’t believe it—wouldn’t believe it. He knew that life was beckoning her to fight and fight she must.

He approached one of the nurses at the monitoring station after walking out of the room. “Hello, could you tell me where I might get coffee?”

“There’s a machine at the end of the corridor but I’ll order anything you require, sir.”

Alex smiled briefly, realizing that at a private hospital, nothing was too much for the staff to do for the patients or their visitors.

“Perhaps later. Right now I’ll find the machine so I can stretch my legs.” He was about to walk away when he turned back. “If anything happens while I’m gone, please, find me.”

The nurse smiled at him. “I will.”

“Thanks.” Waiting was so very hard to do, especially when it was waiting for someone you loved.

†

Karen watched as Thea talked with Jack, confirming their onward journey to Antwerp. It had been a very quiet six-hour flight to Brussels. There was occasional small talk but otherwise silence. Not that she blamed Thea. She didn’t. Had it been her, she doubted she would have allowed her to go along. Thea was a very special individual who had keen insight into pain and hurt, along with happiness and love. That was a very rare attribute. Life may have been cruel to her, to have her fall in love with someone who was highly unlikely to return that love. Through it all, her child would be there for the woman regardless of the pain she felt inside.

Unrequited love. What a statement. There were numerous stories, movies, and poems written and screened on just that topic. They were all romantic overtones contrived with happily ever after the goal. With this particular story, would that be the outcome? Karen had her doubts. Once she learned it was Jo, her active research mind came into action.

The woman was a pinup figure for young and old alike and she recalled reading an article that indicated the woman had numerous affairs, all apparently with men. Her last was a broken engagement with a businessman from New York and the picture taken of them together made Karen wonder why. He had been a very handsome guy and they looked happy together in the photo.

How could her daughter expect a woman, who was by all accounts actively heterosexual, change? Then again, Thea didn’t want her friend to change. Karen had finally realized why Thea left the singer. How could she live in the same apartment with a woman she loved who would never love her in the same way back? It was like having heartbreak thrown in her face twenty-four-seven.

“Hey, baby, are we set?”

“Yes, Mom. We will be going in a limo and it will take under an hour to get there.”

“We’ll be there soon, Thea, and you can talk to Joanna and tell her how you feel.” Karen placed a comforting arm around her daughter’s shoulders and smiled warmly.

Thea looked at her mother with surprise on her face. “I can’t do that, Mom. Joanna doesn’t care about me that way.”

“We’ll see, won’t we? Faith, darling, faith. That’s what it takes, and believe me, I know what I’m talking about.”

“You never did tell me the truth about your affair with Grayson when you were with Dad.”

“Nope, I never did. Maybe now is the time to tell you.” Karen sucked in a breath and exhaled gradually.

“I think I deserve the truth, Mom. Dad’s gone. It can’t hurt him.”

Karen glanced at her daughter in compassion. “No, it can’t hurt him, darling, but it can still hurt you.”

“Knowing the truth can’t hurt any more than not knowing.”

“Remember those words when you see Joanna.” Karen grinned. “Now about your father.…”

†

“You were sticking to your guns and stomped your little feet in a tantrum. We tried to explain to you why we couldn’t have a pet since we lived in an apartment. You would have none of that telling us it could share your room—”

“I still want the pony,” a groggy voice said.

“Jo? Oh Joanna, you’ve come back to us.

“Mom? Where am I?” Jo asked.

“You’re in a hospital in Antwerp, Belgium,” Alex said pressing the call button.

“Papa, why are you here?”

Stella ran a hand across Jo’s forehead. “You were so sick and we came immediately.”

“I feel like I was run over by a truck.” Jo opened her eyes before closing them. “How long?”

“We’ve been here a day and a half,” Alex said.

The door opened and both Stella and Alex looked at it, expecting the nurse.

“Thea, Karen, why are you here?” Stella asked with a confused look on her face.

Jo’s eyes opened wide. “Thea? Is Thea here?”

Thea who had tears streaking her cheeks rushed to the bed.

“Why? Why are you here?” Stella asked.

“It’s a long story,” Karen replied.

Thea was kneeling at the side taking Joanna’s hand into hers before placing it to her lips and kissing the palm. She looked lovingly at Joanna, before pushing away the dark bangs that always strayed across her face. “Joanna, what will I do with you?” Thea whispered.

“You’re here. I’ve missed you so,” Joanna whispered.

“I’m sorry I left you, but I’m here now and I’m here to stay. I promise.”

Stella stood and gave a quizzical expression.

“Let’s go outside and I’ll explain everything,” Karen took Stella’s hand and led her and Alex out of the room.

Thea, unaware that the others had left, stared mesmerized at face of the woman she loved. “I love you, Joanna. Isn’t it time you talked to me. It’s been more than a year?”

She brushed away her tears. “A year when all I wished for was to see - you, speak to you, help you, and be with you. Do you know that every single minute since I left you, I’ve wanted to come back and be part of your life? I miss you so much, Joanna. Can we start again?”

Joanna just stared at her. “Are you real or am I hallucinating?”

“I’m real. You are all I’ll ever want in life. I’m a shell without you, Joanna. Will you let me come home? I’ll be your housekeeper, manager, whatever you want, I’ll be.” She looked at Joanna who had closed her eyes. Unable to stop herself, Thea began sobbing. With her head on the bed, she drenched the blanket with her tears.

Minutes or was it hours, passed before she felt a hand on her hair, stroking it.

“Thea,” a croaky voice murmured.

Thea sucked in a breath and looked into the blue eyes watching her.

“You know I hate it when you cry.”

“Joanna, I’m sorry.”

“I am, too.”

“I love you.” Thea placed several kisses on Joanna’s cheeks. Once the remembered reality that her friend was so very ill broke through her euphoric mist, she let go.

“I feel strange, though.”

“Should I get the doctor?”

“I want something…you. I want to talk to you. I’ve missed you in my life, Thea, so very much. Want to fetch me a drink of water? My mouth feels like sandpaper.”

Thea gasped and glanced around. On the side table was a paper cup the size of a large cupcake and a jug of water. Pouring the liquid, she brought a straw to Joanna’s lips and smiled as her friend sipped. Thea felt the tears fall again but this time for a different reason. “I’ve missed you so much, too, Joanna. Will you come home with me and let me take care of you?”

†

Once, what seemed like another lifetime ago, Joanna remembered asking Thea to go with her…now, Thea was asking the same? It wouldn’t be the same. How could it? I’m about to hit the top.

“Home?”

“Yes, home with me?”

“Where you are, is my home, Thea. Didn’t I ever tell you that?”

“No, you never did.” Thea watched as Joanna’s eyes shut again.

At that moment, a nurse entered and checked Joanna.

“She’s sleeping peacefully now. We called the doctor when she woke. He’ll be here shortly.”

Thea sighed heavily and then Alex entered the room and engulfed her in a hug that astounded her.

“Thank you, thank you, Thea, for coming. I had no idea you two were friends.”

Thea was emotionally drained and laid her head on his broad shoulder and began crying like a baby. She had actually told Joanna she loved her and the singer hadn’t flinched at all. Maybe there was hope for them yet.